Survey: The most popular early jobs and universities of CEOs

New LinkedIn data shows that the role of a consultant is the most popular first job among CEOs. In terms of the roles they filled before right getting the position for the first time, the research found that 72% were directors or higher up on the corporate ladder.

Photo: Jason Wong

Take a guess. Drumroll, please …

New LinkedIn data shows that the role of a consultant is the most popular first job among CEOs. In terms of the roles they filled before right getting the position for the first time, the research found that 72% were directors or higher up on the corporate ladder.

LinkedIn analyzed the profiles of more than 12,000 CEOs of organizations with a minimum of 50 workers, located in 20 different nations.

The 10 most popular early jobs among CEOs

Consultant

Software Engineer

Analyst

Sales Manager

Project Manager

Account Manager

Manager

Founder

Associate

Software Developer

“Note that these positions and functions reflect the CEOs’ earliest job on their LinkedIn profile — not necessarily their first job ever (our data probably misses out on lots of lemonade stands.),” LinkedIn noted.

Among CEOs of organizations with a minimum of 1,000 workers, 80% indicated that they came from another company, and 20% were “promoted internally.”